New ball-shaped Echos

Echo. © Amazon.

Amazon announced the launch of the fourth generation of its main smart speaker, the Echo, with a new spherical design and better sound. Thanks to the AZ1 Neural Edge, a processor developed in collaboration with MediaTek, Alexa can now respond faster to queries by performing voice recognition locally, right on the machine. The new Echo will come in three colours: charcoal, chalk and steel blue, will still cost USD100 and will ship as of 22 October. Pre-ordering is already available on Amazon. The standard Echo is joined by the Echo Dot, which is also ball-shaped, and which also stays at USD50. Not to mention the clock display version, for USD60, which could make a great bedside companion, and an Echo Dot Kids model for USD60, with cute animal faces (tiger or panda).

⇨ Engadget, Devindra Hardawar, “Amazon’s latest Echo speaker has an all-new spherical design.”